Try to Kill Me
by Nuite
Summary: “I will have my revenge.” He snarled ferociously. My eyes brows pinched together with a frown, “Lets see it then. Do your worst, I’m ready.”
1. Chapter 1

It was long before he became kind that I came across the injured dog demon

Chapter One

What's the matter, pup?

It was long before he became kind that I came across the injured dog demon. Long before he was able to hide all of his emotions behind his frozen mask. He had fallen in a field, alone and impatient with his wounds. They had been caused by a jaguar demon by the smell of it and it was taking too long for the wounds to heal.

"You are the dog Lord's son." I said to him.

His eyes were red but otherwise his face showed no emotion. He was still a boy after all. Young in the terms of demons, his appearance strongly resembled that of an adolescent boy.

"I am willing to assist you if you are in need of healing," I told him cautiously.

"I Sesshomaru am in no need of help of your kind, half-breed."

The cold in his tone shocked me more than his excessively harsh words. I had lived a century longer than he had, I was used to bitterness towards my kind.

"Your father will not be pleased if you return to him in this injured state, I am part water demon, I can heal you in time to be strong in front of the great dog demon." My voice was steady, my offer did not falter under his stare like most full demons have done in the past. "All men hate to be seen in their weakness."

"I am not weak." The young dog demon snorted. Oh. He was so very young still; I could have laughed at his stubborn attitude.

"Indeed. You don't have a single tear on your face, the pain alone would have sent most boys crying but you are different pup."

He sneered at the nickname, "That is no way to treat one such as I."

"It was meant as a compliment, you are very much a man." I laughed at my own sarcasm.

"When my father hears of your impudence he will hunt you down."

"How will he find me, pup?" I smiled at his tense reaction, "will you tell him a half demon insulted him? There are far too many of my kind for him to comb the world through for me."

"I will have my revenge." He snarled ferociously.

My eyes brows pinched together with a frown, "Lets see it then. Do your worst, I'm ready."

I watched as the boy struggled to gain his footing. Along his right leg was a deep gash that trailed to his knee, and he hand some minor scrapes and cuts along his torso as well. It was almost funny to watch the boy fight his wounds to stand. Each attempt was followed with a mouth full of raw dirt.

"That's what I thought." I chuckled and knelt down in sight of the broken pup. "If you promise not to kill me right after I heal you then I promise you will have one chance to kill me should we meet again."

"I could kill you now." He growled deep in his throat.

"Silence pup." I ordered and the boy glared at me through a sealed mouth, upset that he could not disobey, "In your condition exerting your powers would make you die faster."

"I do not need the sympathy of a half demon!"

I laughed, "How about if I make the deal more worth your time?"

He stared at me for a while through angry eyes, suspicious. "How so?"

"I will allow you to attempt to kill me once, each time we cross paths in the future. Does that sound more fair?"

"I only need one chance to kill you."

My eyes glittered at the boy demon, "The Lord Sesshomaru should know better than to be too bull headed. You don't even know the full extent of my abilities other than that I can heal, it may take two times at least to gauge me weak points."

"I do not need to look too deeply to know how weak you are." Sesshomaru glared heavily.

"That may be so, but what if I have the power to heal every wound you give me? Then you'll never win because you'll grow tired always facing me in full health."

It was quite easily I had won the argument with the boy. I wasn't the least bit surprised when he dropped his silver head down in defeat, allowing my hands to stretch forward and heal him.

"I never agreed to your deal, half breed." He said once I was finished.

Smiling at him widely I thumped the top of his head in annoyance, "I've traveled with too many wolf demons to know when you lot give up. You all lower your head and tilt it to the right slightly… must be a mutt thing I guess."

Now I was just trying to get the pup riled up. Test his strengths before he attempted to kill me, but I was surprised when I only received a vicious look.

"I'll be merciless." He told me before turning away, his white kimono still showed the blood from his previous battle wounds that I had healed. "Pray we never meet again." He said over his shoulder before vanishing into the tree line.

"Strange little pup." I laughed and turned on my heel, heading back the way I was heading before I caught his scent.


	2. Chapter 2

It didn't take long before I reached my destination

Chapter Two

Reason Enough to Kill Me

It didn't take long before I reached my destination. I was greeted by the demon attendants with an instant distrust, but the accompanied me inside the castle grudgingly. A half demon has little place in the world ruled by demons and humans, each side hates the other with such ferocity that –if a human shows any emotion towards a demon or vice versa the product of such relationship is instantly hated as well – there are no exceptions. I was just lucky to be born into a prestigious family that entitled me more rights than normal half demons; I received a fraction of respect from the demon world.

The servant demon led me to a lounging room. All of the important rooms are always at the very center of castles. This includes royalty's bedchambers, meeting halls, private gardens, and book study rooms like the one I've been placed in.

Outside the inner circle are entertainment gardens for visitors, the celebration hall, feasting room, and bedrooms for guests. On the very outer ring is the space meant for servants and soldiers.

It is normally spaced like this so that, should anyone be foolish enough to attack a demon lord the inner section of the castle is the last to be penetrated.

A heavy presence trod into the room. His long silver hair was pulled back from his face in a ponytail and still fell down to his ankles, his yellow eyes shined in the candlelight as he saw me lounging in one of his plush chairs.

"It's been a long time InuTaisho." I grinned up to him, hopping to my feet.

He laughed, "You've grown."

Narrowing my eyes at the demon lord I scoffed. "That means nothing, you're still taller than me. I can't wait for the day that you'll be looking up at _me_ to talk."

"That will be an amusing day indeed."

He wore thick-scaled armor over his shoulders and a heavy breastplate on his chest despite the fact that he knew I was no harm to him. I heaved a sigh and then searched the room for something more interesting.

"I heard the most amusing story not too long ago." The dog lord began, the humor thick on his voice.

I turned to him, curious now. "What was it?"

"Rumor has it that there is a half demon wandering my lands with too much spunk for her own good." It took all of my strength to refuse the twitching grin on the edge of my lips, "If people find out a half breed got away with insulting my son without punishment then those cats may get the wrong idea."

"Who would ever do such a thing?" I did my best to sound scornful.

"Some girl, part water demon by the smell of her."

"Huh."

The grin was itching at my lips again, "Better get on that, don't want anyone thinking you're going soft now would you?"

His yellow eyes gleamed with mirth, "She called him the strangest thing too, even compared him to those filthy wolf demons to the east."

"The pup deserved it." Dang.

InuTaisho smirked down at me and I saw the victory across his face. I did sort of give myself away there, I laughed until his smirk turned into a heavy smile.

"This will definitely make your job more interesting." The dog lord said, thinking.

"There's nothing to worry about, the little pup can't do too much harm, and he's still a kid he has a lot to learn still before he'll be too big of a threat to me. I can handle him for a few years."

"It isn't wise he underestimate him, he may not look like it but he is a full demon."

"Hm." I glanced up at the pup's father, taking in all 6'3" of him with analyzing eyes. "Probably has your poison skills, speed is a given, is there anything else?"

"Sesshomaru is very intelligent for his age." His father offered.

I nodded, "Still too emotional though, he nearly snapped on me earlier when I tried to heal him."

"What?"

I looked at his father; his eyes had grown surprisingly wide. Perhaps it was the dog breed that lacked the ability to completely conceal any strong emotions, I could see through his untalented masked emotions without a problem.

"I was mid journey here when I came across the young pup's scent near the channel, you know the one that cuts through from the north? Well I decided to see what your son was up to when I found him face first in the dirt."

InuTaisho glared at the far wall, "What all was wrong with my son?"

"He was cut pretty deep from his ankle to his knee, but other than that he just hat a few scratches here and there. It wasn't all that bad, but if he had attempted to fight me like he wanted to…"

"Ah," his face softened a fragment, "That sounds like him, always too proud for his own good."

"Yes well, I healed him up after making a deal with him – nothing of consequence, just ensuring that he wouldn't kill me – and sent him packing through the woods again."

"He didn't arrive here until late last night, and his clothes showed nothing of him being hurt."

"He probably stole it from a village rather than admitting he was hurt." I scoffed to myself, trying to lighten the mood, "You dogs and your foolish pride."

He didn't laugh, "Do you know who did it?"

"No, they had come and gone by the time I was there, but the smell of cat was all over him."

"I see."

I frowned, "You're planning something aren't you?"

"No." He shook his head, "I cannot go against the Jaguar demons now, but their time will come to an end very soon. I can guarantee that."

"Good," I nodded, "I never really liked those demons, always too fussy about being in the water for my tastes."

"I should talk to Sesshomaru and tell him not to go into their territory any longer."

"That's good, but don't tell him I told you. He has enough motivation to try to kill me." We both laughed for a long time before the great dog lord bowed his head to agree with me. After we had both collected ourselves he dismissed himself and vanished from the study.

I waited for nearly an hour in the room before a servant appeared with a message for me. I was to be moved into the spare room within the second section of the castle where I would stay until I lost my welcome.

First thing tomorrow I would begin my duties, as agreed upon between InuTaisho and myself before my coming, and my long day would begin.

I relished in the feeling of the fluffy feathered pillows and fell asleep without any thoughts of food. I would regret _that_ in the morning…


	3. Chapter 3

Try me.

Chapter Three

Give it Your Best Shot

The kitchen was open for me to come and go as I pleased so I snatched a basket full of fish pastries and ran out before the cooks could get too mad at me. I bit into the tasty puff pastry and satisfyingly chewed on the filling, admiring the talented chef's work while pulling out another pastry from the basket.

I was glad to be out of arms reach from the cook because he was furious when he noticed I had snatched all of these, something about how they were prepared for an important person's breakfast.

He would have strangled me until I gave up the pastries I had munched on already, had I not escaped so fast.

Strolling through the hallways I took in every detail. The second section of the castle was mainly hallways filled with doors to unused bedrooms. Each room was in perfect condition and free of dust in case a guest should arrive at any moment. But the benefit of living in the second wing was that I was located much closer to the training grounds.

Picking my speed up to an even trot I stuffed another fish pastry in my mouth and chewed thoughtfully. The training grounds were located in the far corner of the entertainment gardens within this section of the castle.

I was willing to be the last one there today and allow myself to study the boy who was going to be waiting for me. I was going to take on one of InuTaisho's soldiers into my personal training.

The soldier was still a boy in the terms of demons, a child who needed to learn all of the necessities of war.

It would be my duty to prepare this boy to be strong enough to defeat any enemy; it was the reason that I was hired for the position. My skills in battle would make it a lot more difficult to defeat than a normal demon.

My first goal for today would be to test the boy's strengths and weaknesses. Once I have a better understanding of those I will work him to the bone until weakness of all varieties will be completely eliminated from the boy's being. He will be made out of steel once I'm through with him.

The gardens of the castle are very beautiful.

The natural beauty of the land could not compete with the way the flowers and trees and ponds were arranged in the garden. Lilies glowed in the early morning light, and orange blossoms glittered like gold along the path that led to the training grounds. I ignored the small bridge and crossed through the water with ease, my clothes showed no sign of ever being wet as I stepped onto the other side of the river.

The boy I found in the clearing of the training field was completely different and my world fell several shades darker.

"Pup, why are you looking so glum?" I called safely from the shadows, laughing when the dagger glare faces the border of trees. Blending into the background I wove between the borderline at a speed his eyes could not follow until he lost me.

"Show yourself, half demon." Sesshomaru attempted to sound demanding.

My laugh echoed, "Your father told me to teach you what I know," I laughed at how sly the great dog lord had been at tricking me into this, "your first lesson starts now."

"Come out of your hiding and I will end your pitiful life."

"Now, now." I scolded, "Revenge is boring if you get it over too quickly."

"I have no need to waste my time with you."

"Is that mercy I hear?" I laughed, "I thought you said you would be merciless! You know…" I clucked my tongue, "you should really start giving me more credit my powers are very credible for a demon."

"You are not a true demon, you are a half breed." He glared at the blurred tree line, slowly revolving in circles while attempting to find me, "If I remember correctly you promised I could try to kill you every time our paths crossed. Come here and let me end your miserable excuse of a life."

I swayed amongst the branches now, leaping from tree to tree, watching the boy from above I saw too many weak points in the way he was holding himself. He was completely defenseless.

"Twenty-two." I shouted down to the boy and revealed myself at the top of the tree.

"Twenty-two what?"

A hearty grin spread across my lips, "That's how many times I could have mortally wounded you in the last ten minutes while you stood there."

Sesshomaru growled and pushed himself up several branches to face me from the neighboring tree.

"I was trying to lure you down by giving you false weaknesses." He muttered.

I noticed the tiniest of redness in his cheeks, "That's a good plan, only next time try doing that when the weaknesses aren't real."

"I get my chance to kill you." He growled, his wide child-like eyes starting to grow red. "Even a half demon would not go back on their word."

"I did promise that I would let you try to kill me every time we met, but I never said I would give in so easily. Before you get your chance you have to complete your lesson."

He looked at me through slightly clearer eyes then, as if the hope of getting to take my life calmed him.

"What do I have to do?"

"You have to come at me with all of your power, do not hold anything back. I have to judge your strength." He seemed confident, "Then you have to land a hit on me, a tap will suffice for now."

"I'll rip your arm off."

"That will work too." I offered ruefully to the boy.

I watched as his shoulder muscles tenses slightly, and I knew he was straining his back muscles to cover the distance between us. He leapt from his branch towards me, but I was landing on the firm ground below him before he could process I was no longer on the tree branch.

He looked around him viciously, a snarl ripping through his throat.

"Feisty little pup aren't ya?" I called up to him, egging him on.

When his eyes reached mine they were beginning to glitter red again. He charged down the tree, breaking all branches into smithereens in his path.

I waited for the boy to be a few feet away from me before I disappeared into the tree line and vanished from his sight. From sheer force alone the tree was ripped from its roots and crashed into the training ground with a deafening thud.

His lip drew back over his teeth in a snarl as I faded in and out of his vision, "Are you going to hurt me?"

I asked as he lunged but I was always outside his reach, his claws never grazed my skin. "Come on pup, I'm only a half demon!" I jeered from the shadows, "Surely the son of the great dog demon can do better than that!"

His eyes were glowing crimson when I saw his face. He was frightening. A child with such rage in him was bound to have amazing powers locked away in that little body of his.

My eyebrows pinched together.

"You don't know how to transform yet, do you?"

A flash of white flickered through his eyes. I'm guessing it was either from pain or surprise.

He was just a pup still; I guess I shouldn't be surprised if he hasn't found his demonic form yet. Perhaps he just needs a little push in the right direction to get that power unleashed.

Maybe that's why I was hired to train the demon child, "What is your goal, pup?"

The boy's eyes were losing their red intensity and he shifted his head slightly to the side. A movement I've learned through wolf demons means they are unsure of something.

"What do you hope to accomplish in your life?" I asked differently now, "The life of a demon is longer than most living beings, if you do not have a goal to accomplish then you may as well be swine up for the slaughter." The boy's eyes widens up at me, "What is it you want to dedicate your life to?"

Many moments passed in silence as I waited for his answer. He was still inexperienced at masking all of his emotions, I would work on that another day, but today I needed to know what I would be pushing the future ruler of the western lands towards.

It seemed hours passed and the pup still stared me down.

When I was sure half the sun's length was wasted I heard him mumble something beneath his breath. "What was that?"

"I want to travel the world until I can defeat the most powerful being in battle. I will be the Supreme Being, ultimate power would only be mine to claim!"

There was intensity in his young eyes that sparked like molten fire, glittering with the strength of a child's dreams. And such a dream it was, one that could take years to accomplish.

"Alright then." I said, catching him off guard again. I broke into a grin and raised my hand towards the boy so that he could see I meant a moment for a treaty. "I will give you one chance. Right now, do your best to kill me. If you miraculously do take my life then you will never have to deal with this pitiful half demon again, but if you fail you will submit faithfully to my training without the slightest complaint and I will make you reach that goal within two months. In those two months you must not attempt to kill me, and if I fail to ready you for you journey by the end of that time period my life will be in your hands to do as you see fit."

The boy narrowed his eyes and then scoffed, kicking the dirt at his feet. "It sounds to me like you're just trying to swindle your way out of your deal."

"You said so yourself that even a half demon would never go against their word."

He looked at me then, out of curiosity and then out of skepticism.

"If I kill you now I'll never have to deal with you again?" He asked.

"I may come back to haunt you, but other than that you'll be free of me for life."

I think he almost laughed, but it was hidden behind his poor excuse of an emotional block. "Okay then, bye-bye."

Even to this day I think the child took it easy on me. I was sure that with his pent up rage he could have at least left a couple of mutilated body parts and gauges from his tearing claws, but I walked away from the training ground with the pup in tow with barely a handful of scratches along my arms and face.

I think I made good progress.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Pink Kimono

The next morning was much different from the day before. I'm sure the embarrassment I was putting the pup through would be enough for him to consider killing me now, but I enjoyed this new look on him.

He wore a long pink kimono over his hakama. It was a girl's outfit, but to kick it up a notch I made him wear a large straw hat and furry mountain boots I collected from my trip to the north.

His face was red from the embarrassment.

"What does this have to do with my training?"

I chucked the empty basket at his head, "It's your uniform, and you have to wear that every day until I'm finished with you."

He growled.

"If you want to meet your goal you have to learn the most important thing. You need to be able to restrain every part of you emotions, lock them behind a screen so that only you know them."

"But what does _this_," he shifted uncomfortably, "have to do with any of that?"

"When I can no longer see the hate and embarrassment on your face or from the way you move then you can burn the outfit."

He eyed me with an intense loathing, but set about constructing his emotional block. I lounged amongst the orange blossoms until the boy called out for my attention.

"I've done it." I could hear the cheer in his voice, the sense of success.

I shot it down, "The corner of your lip is twitching and your eyebrows are pinched from the effort. The way your back is slightly slouched forward indicates that you are trying your best to restrain yourself from leaping at me and your eyes are burning death into my skull."

His eyes twitched again.

"Obviously you aren't going to get out of that outfit for a while."

I fell back into the orange blossoms as the pup tried again to restrain his emotions. It was costing him more energy that he had assumed at first.

Slowly the day hours dwindled by until it was time for a late afternoon snack. I pulled out the fish pastries from the second basket I had prepared and focused of the pup's face. It hadn't gotten any better than this morning, his eyebrows were knitted together and his frown only grew in length across his face.

A strong wind blew from the south end of the training ground and with it blew the smell of my pastries over to the boy.

The way he looked at the food made me burst into a fit of laughter. His eyes lifted from the ground and eyed one of my pastries with undying longing, subconsciously he staggered closer to me, his hand twitching at his side from a hunger I couldn't understand. At the corner of his mouth I saw the beginning of dog drool and I tried to catch my breath from laughing.

"Are you hungry pup?"

I moved one of the fish shaped pastries in the air as if it were swimming; the boy's golden eyes followed it. The fish swam back towards me and I popped it in my mouth, chewing thoughtfully while I watched his hungry expression show his intense loathing of me.

"You don't like me do you?"

The answer was obvious, but I had to push every button if the boy was going to learn how to control his emotions. I had to make him want to rip my head off just so that he can realize how much he needed to work on stopping them.

"Give it another try, each time you succeed I'll give you a basket of these fishes." I laughed at his glare. Hopefully food would be enough to bribe him.

His silver hair fluttered as he turned away from me, "I can't wait until these two months are over."

"Oh! You want to kill me!" I pretended to be horrified.

He glared sharply at me before forcing himself to concentrate solely on controlling his emotions.

The days passed by like this. He made no success and at the end of each day he was exhausted. I used the same ploy, making him drool over fish pastries until he was collapsed on the ground from hunger.

"Don't be such a cat," I scolded him while nudging him with my toe, "I heard that the servants were sneaking you tiny feasts every morning and night while I wasn't around, you shouldn't be fainting this easily."

In truth I was the one who ordered several of the cooks to send the little prince food whenever he was out of my sight. It would do me no good if he were dead.

"It's too hard." The boy whined to himself, his face red from the exertion.

"Listen to me." I scowled at him.

"I have no need to follow the instructions of a half demon," Sesshomaru mumbled under his breath.

"_Listen_." It was an order that the boy could not fight back on. "In battle you will have two objectives. To live and the kill the enemy. You will be assessing your opponent for his weaknesses and he will search for yours, if you allow your emotions to control you – rage, frustration, pain – then you will not survive. Only the weak cannot hold to their pride in battle."

"But this is not battle."

"If you do not learn how to control your emotions now, when your life is not at stake, then you are hopeless when your life is on the line."

"What's wrong about not being able to completely ban emotions?"

I sighed, dropping my head then, perhaps dogs can never learn new tricks. "Emotions in battle are weaknesses. Your enemies will end up using them against you to gain the upper hand."

Sesshomaru looked at me with slightly wide golden eyes for several minutes, digesting what I had said no doubt. We stared at each other for a long time; it took me a while to notice that the meaning of the staring had changed into a challenge. Whoever looked away first would be the one first to submit and the weaker of the two.

I smirked at the sight of his eyes drying. Obviously the little pup had forgotten that I was half water demon. Technically I didn't have to blink, my eyes never lost the moisture in them like most other beings, and I only blinked out of habit so I had no problem when it came to a staring contest.

His eyes grew red, not out of anger, but from the lack of moisture. His body was the first to give in and force the boy to blink moisture back into his eyes.

I don't know if he took what I said seriously, but when he realized he lost the contest his face only turned a slight pink rather than his normal red.

"That's better," I congratulated him at being able to hide his frustration a little, "But your body language needs more work."

"I have no time for this." The boy huffed and spun away, storming out of the training grounds.

That was as long as I could hold it in… I burst out in a fit of laughter.

"Ah!" I cried out in a fit of laughs, "This pup is going to be the end of me!"

I just couldn't take it seriously then. Not with the little dog demon pup in that flamboyant pink kimono…


End file.
